Heart

The heart is an essential organ.  Without it, blood would not flow through your body, distributing oxygen and nutrients to every cell.  Without the heart, waste materials could not be gathered up and carried away for disposal.  Without the heart, your body would be dead in minutes. 

The heart is a pump that beats with the rhythm of life.  But to most people, the heart is something more—it is the place where your soul resides.  There is nothing scientific to back this up, but it is a tradition that is as old as time itself. 

Our language and culture fully embrace this idea.  On Valentine’s Day, you see hearts everywhere as a symbol for love.  When your feelings are obvious to everyone, you wear your heart on your sleeve.  When a relationship ends, you suffer from a broken heart.  When someone compliments you, your heart swells with pride.  When you hear bad news, your heart shrinks in fear. 

The Bible speaks this way too.  The heart is treated as the seat of wisdom; when Solomon became king, he asked God give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong (1 Kings 3:9).  Courage is found in the heart; David wrote though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear (Psalm 27:3).  Hope is located in the heart; Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD (Psalm 27:14).  Prayer comes from the heart; in 1st Samuel chapter one we read Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. And, of course, the heart feels love: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). 

God wants us to love Him wholeheartedly.  Jesus said, No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other (Matthew 6:24).  The problem is, our hearts are fickle—they are quick to love anything that’s new and different. Jesus said, out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander (Matthew 15:19).  Our hearts fixate on pleasure, revenge, hatred, prejudice, envy, pride, and a never-ending lust for more of everything.  Jeremiah said, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?  (chapter 17)

God understands the human heart.  Nothing is hidden from Him. He told Samuel, The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). David said, the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts (1 Chronicles 28:9).  Solomon prayed these words to God: Forgive, and deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart—for you alone know the hearts of men (2 Chronicles 6:30). 

God created our hearts to be like His—filled with love, commitment, and generosity.  But our hearts have been damaged by sin.  They have shriveled up and become hard.  We crave things so much that we are willing to break the law in order to get them; this prompted David to write, Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them (Psalm 62:10).  Jesus warns us about unrestrained sexual desire: I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28).  Our hearts worry that we don’t have everything we need; to this Jesus replied, do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.  For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.  But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well (Luke 12:29-31).  It’s all a matter of getting your priorities straight; Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21).

God is willing to forgive us.  Listen to the prophet Joel (chapter two): "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.  If we have a change of heart over sin, God will spare us from His terrible punishment.

Of course, God does not overlook sin.  He doesn’t just wave His hand and make it go away.  God does punish all sin.  But that punishment does not have to afflict us.  On Good Friday, God punished His Son in our place, a punishment so severe that it killed the Lord of Life as He hung on the cross. 

Jesus went to that cross because of His heart.  Jesus’ heart is filled with love for us—a love committed to our happiness and welfare.  But it was not easy for Jesus to do what He did.  He told the disciples, Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? `Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour (John 12:27).   Jesus was willing to suffer for us, but He certainly did not look forward to it.  Nevertheless, His heart compelled Him to action, regardless of the bad things to come.  Jesus’ heart went out to each of us, and His love changes our hearts forever. 

No matter how hard or shriveled up our hearts may be, God can change us.  Through Ezekiel God said, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.  You…will be my people, and I will be your God (chapter 36).  He gives us a hunger to see Him coming on the clouds of heaven, the kind of craving that Job talked about (chapter 19): I myself will see him with my own eyes--I, and not another.  How my heart yearns within me! He gives us hearts that overflow with happiness, hearts that want to share Him with others; I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation (Psalm 40:10).  He brings us together as a family, as He started doing in the first days of the Church; All the believers were one in heart and mind (Acts 2:44).

A heart devoted to God is a wonderful thing to have.  Psalm 73: My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  Psalm 13: I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.  Psalm 37: Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart…The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just. The law of his God is in his heart; his feet do not slip.  Psalm 112: He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.  Most wonderful of all, Jesus said Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5:8). 

But we must be careful; the heart is willful and easily led astray.   Solomon wrote, Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23).  Moses warned, be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, or let them slip from your heart, as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them…when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God (Deuteronomy chapter four).

Believers can fall to the devil’s power if they give him an opportunity.  Judas’ love for money gave Satan an open door into his heart, leading the disciple to betray Jesus and afterwards commit suicide.  A few years later, Peter confronted a church member about a lie told to the congregation: Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?”…When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died (Acts 5:3-5). 

God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).  But God’s heart is pure; He will not tolerate sin.  Early in Genesis (chapter five), The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.  The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.  As a result God flooded the earth, killing everyone who ignored the warnings that Noah spoke to them.  Nevertheless, God would much rather carry us than bury us. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young (Isaiah 40:11). 

Because our hearts are weak, God strengthens us through testing.  Moses told the Israelites, Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands…Know, then, in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you (Deuteronomy chapter eight). When we are forced to make a hard decision, a choice between God’s way or Satan’s way, we come out of the trial stronger than before when we side with righteousness.  David said, I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity (1 Chronicles 29:17). 

Tragically, many hearts choose to side with the devil. The fool says in his heart, "There is no God" (Psalm 14:1). Such a person boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD (Psalm 10:3).  Solomon writes, the LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished (Proverbs 16:5).  Scripture says that King Rehoboam did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the LORD (2 Chronicles 12:14).  Through Jeremiah God said, Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD (chapter 17).  Do you want to be forgiven?  Then you must embrace God and reject sin.  David wrote, If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened (Psalm 66:18). 

When Joseph and Nicodemus came to collect Jesus’ body for burial, one of the soldiers stabbed Christ in the side to make sure that He was dead.  The spear went in behind the ribcage and punctured Jesus’ heart.  What happened next was a miracle; John tells us one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.  The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe (John 19:34-35).  Blood you would expect, but not water—not from the heart.  But consider what Jesus told the woman at the well three years earlier: whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14).  This matches what John saw in the last chapter of Revelation: The angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb…Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.  When Jesus’ heart was opened, its contents were revealed—the blood that washes away our sin, the water that gives us eternal life.

In Proverbs chapter 27 Solomon wrote, As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man.  What does your heart reveal about you?  Is it filled with happiness or anger?  Is it generous with time and money, or is it selfish?  Does it see the good in life, or does it focus on the bad?  Is your heart infatuated with sin, or is it committed to the Savior?  I pray that your heart might be fully committed to the Lord, as His heart is fully committed to you.  Then you can rejoice in His gifts like King David in Psalm 28: The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy, and I will give thanks to him in song.